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Amazon Starts Earlier Four-Day Prime Day as Retailers Match Its Sales

The move aims to capture summer and back-to-school demand to test how price-sensitive U.S. shoppers are

Overview

  • Prime Day began Tuesday, June 23 and runs through Friday, June 26, with Amazon running a four-day event while Walmart and Target run overlapping multi-day sales.
  • Amazon is promoting Alexa for Shopping, which provides personalized recommendations, plots up to one year of price history, sends price-drop alerts, and can automate purchases when a target price is met.
  • Analysts expect strong online spending during the 96-hour event, with Bank of America projecting about $21.6 billion in goods sold and Adobe forecasting average discounts in the low- to mid-20s percent in key categories.
  • Reporting found both record-low prices on headline items and instances of misleading discounts, with Amazon removing at least one deceptively priced third-party listing after price-history checks flagged the claim.
  • Higher inflation and rising fuel costs are pushing many shoppers toward groceries, household essentials and back-to-school buys, a shift that could steer retailers to compete more on everyday items and value pricing going forward.